In 2006 Terry Moshenberg made the observation that there are book clubs, hockey leagues and even knitting leagues, but nothing for rock—so he invented it! He founded the League of Rock in Toronto and they're about to go international, including the launch of a Vancouver program this summer.
"The League of Rock harnesses the unsung heroes of rock or the unknown musical population," he explained. "It's for grownups who rock and who have day jobs and families -- and I'm one of those people." It brings together the types of people who have been having private jam sessions in their basements and gives them access to long-time professionals who might be looking for something new, or more ways to connect and communicate with audiences. Linking these groups by allowing non-pros to learn from industry veterans through workshops was a logical connection for Moshenberg.
The way it works is that once members are all signed up, they meet at a local "draft" event. There, they will be paired up with band mates selected by Moshenberg who says, it's kind of a reality experience. "There's no auditions or finger-pointing or anything like that. People who join, hand themselves over to creativity."
Once paired up, they'll choose a name and pick three songs (originals or covers) to work on throughout 10 weeks of JAB (Join A Band) sessions and workshops. At the halfway point bands come together for a private concert for the other league members so they can showcase their songs. A few weeks later bands will pick one of their songs and head to a world-class recording studio where the collection form each band that season will be put on a "greatest hits" CD produced by the League.
The League of Rock has been a resounding success in Toronto, welcoming over 350 members to date. Vancouver will launch on July 22nd with their draft event at the Yale where they have partnered with Rock 101 and local professionals (yet to be announced). New York will follow in the fall and Chicago is set for the spring of 2010.